


Burn

by Lepidopterrain



Series: In Slumber [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Teen Titans (Comics)
Genre: After Damian leaves Robin behind, But only for a moment bc fuck that shit, Damian Wayne Needs a Hug, Damian Wayne Whump, Damian used to write his big bros letters and kept all their responses, Dick Grayson is Ric Grayson, Hurt No Comfort, In which Damian has a nightmare, So did Dick, Whump, Whumptober 2020, Yeah this is a bit weird, no surprise there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:08:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27113765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lepidopterrain/pseuds/Lepidopterrain
Summary: "You have torn it all away,Stand back watch it burn"~"First Burn" from Hamilton.In which Damian burns.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne, Jason Todd & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Damian Wayne
Series: In Slumber [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1980194
Comments: 6
Kudos: 84





	Burn

There was a moment of silence, as Damian ran his fingers over the wood of the banister. The house was so quiet. It made the crackling of the fireplace that much louder. 

Steeling his nerves, he continued down the steps, making his way into the sitting room occupied by his brothers. They were so _quiet._ So _silent._

Damian had been raised in the silence, and yet. And _yet._ Since he'd left, since his whole _world_ had changed, he'd grown so used to the noise, to the scuffle, the rustling of footsteps and thuds of hits and murmurs of bickering voices. This. This oppressive fog around the room, the _silence,_ it was alarming. 

Slowly, he approached his eldest brother. Softly he crawled up besides him. For his whole life, Damian had been a _force,_ a _reckoning,_ like a hurricane or a tornado. And yet. Here, there, in the presence of Richard, he'd always felt so _small._ Not weak, never weak, something else, something _precious._

Grayson did not spare him a glance. He was so _quiet._

Hand shaking, Damian reached out, he reached and grabbed and gently pulled himself into the other's lap, reached and grabbed and laid his head on the man's chest. Breathed in and out and--

_Down._

He tumbled to the floor as Richard stood, tall tall _tall_ and looked down upon him. There was a twist to his lips that felt so foreign, so _menacing,_ and Damian felt so very _small._ So very _delicate,_ his heart straining with every beat as though it were made of a porceline or filling with needles of pine. There was something, _many somethings_ , in the man's hands. As Damian watched, the older man moved forward, threw them into the fire. 

Letters. Drawings. A collection from over the years, _their_ years. 

Damian looked up again, looked at this man who he _did not recognize, where was Richard, who was this man, where was his brother_?!

The clear apathy, the disdain, the _hate,_ of Ric Grayson's expression made him feel so very _small._ So very _weak._

Gasping, Damian lurched back, moving moving _moving,_ the carpet burning his palms, until he hit the feet of another. Looking up, he met the eyes of Judgement. 

Timothy. 

There was something so cunning, so calculating, so _malevolent_ in the eyes of the willow-framed youth. As though Damian were a problem to be solved, a pest to be rid of. And yet, and _yet._ Drake had always been the best of them. Exhausted, emotional, and so very _human,_ so _forgiving and giving._ And Damian? Damian, his whole life, had been a _poison,_ an _earthquake,_ causing so much _destruction._

He watched, watched as the man, as his _brother_ stood, tall tall _tall_ despite his supposedly shorter stature. Watched the sneer spread across his lips,the cool of his eyes, so much like Grandfather's and so much like _Father's_ and where had gone the comfort of this _brother_ , with his fraternal bickering and prods? 

_Lurch._

Damian was shoved out of the way as he moved to the fireplace. There was less, much less, but there were drawings, small tokens exchanged in the good times or in the aftermath of the bad. Unspoken words of affection, of adoration, and they all _burned._

Something lodged in his throat, cold and slimy. His limbs shook and why did the room seem to grow around him? Why was it he had to feel so _small?_

Hands reached beneath his arm pits, yanked him harshly to his feet. 

Jason. 

The brother like a dragon from the myths, harsh and unyielding and impossibly hot tempered. Yet. The brother who protected the children, and the women on the street corners. Who drew weapons with a quickness and a fury like a god, and yet whose fingers passed so softly over passages of prose. 

They were two of a kind, him and Todd. Strong, _bruising_ in their actions, the kindness _beaten_ out of them, unknowing _how_ to be gentle. Yet. 

Yet Damian looked at him and, for the first time in a very long time, was _afraid._ There was a fire in Todd's eyes that made Damian cower as it roared, the intensity of the man's gaze reducing him. And Damian...

Damian felt so _small._

And they were all, _all of them,_ in the sitting room, sitting again. Richard-who-was-Ric-but-then-was-Dick-again (and when had _that_ happened and why hadn't Damian _noticed_ ) and Timothy and Jason. They chattered between themselves, bruised and patching each other up. Just in from patrol? In the fireplace a flame burned brightly. And as he watched, there _there_ was Father, coming in and smiling at them. 

But then he looked, he _looked_ at Damian and his eyes _scorched_ and _scalded_ and _burned--_

And it was back, that feeling in his throat and in his chest, like a thousand needles, a thousand _pokers,_ and he was burning, _burning from the inside out--_

"-- _ay--"_

And suddenly, suddenly, Damian was _there_ again, because he was a force, a _curse,_ unyielding and unforgivable--

_"--yne! Da--"_

And when would it be _over_?! The _searing_ in his chest that felt much too big to fit within him, him who was so _small--_

_"DAMIAN!"_

And suddenly, his eyes flew open as he bolted upright, panting. 

There was no room, no fireplace, no big brothers. 

Emiko stared at him, perched on his chest. "You... you were screaming." 

Damian regarded her. "I--There--"

He stopped, color flooding his cheeks as he realized she was not alone, the others were gathered too, staring at him. And Damian curled his shoulders in. He made himself small under their gazes. "Apologies. I am fine. Return to your rest."

The others disburst, muttering under their breath about him, him and his _tendancies_ as though Damian didn't _know_ what it was they thought of him. 

On his chest still, the archer regarded him. Her gaze seemed to burn into him. It made him uncomfortable. "I heard--They're saying Nightwing is back. The real one. Memories and all."

"So it seems."

"Will you go to him?" 

Damian thought of cold faces and of burning eyes. He shivered, wishing Emiko would move, that he could curl up under the blanket, that he could go to the closet and pull out the old hoodie he'd stolen a lifetime ago. It was far too big, and in it he felt so _small._

_Delicate._

_Precious._

"I will not. It--I have left them all behind. I think it would be prudent to--that is to say--I don't wish to--" He sighed. Thought about the lockbox in the closet as well. He hadn't known, not until the whole _Ric Fiasco_ that Grayson had kept them--kept _everything_ \--from over the years. Damian had only meant to keep them safe, and he could not help but see them _burn._ "It would be kindest to him if I did not." 

She thought him foolish. It was written in the creases of her face, in the gleam of her eyes, and yet she nodded and finally removed herself. Left him alone. 

Alone. 

He scoffed and laid back in the bed. Alone, huh? He closed his eyes, and relished in the way the salt collected under his lids caused him to _burn._

**Author's Note:**

> This is my (very sad) attempt at Whump. 
> 
> Ever need a good write to just... vent and get all the icky feelings out? That was this, so idk if it makes any sense, but I hope it does. 
> 
> Remember to be kind to yourselves.


End file.
